100 Themes
by ThreeBooksInTheFire
Summary: A 100 theme challenge for SkulPles. WARNING: Contains a truck-load of OCs and almost nothing canonical. Also, minor spoilers for Rippling Pool, but no one cares about that. Rated to be safe. Drabble 7 "Heaven" is up.
1. Introduction

001 – Introduction

She noticed the color of his sleeves. The thin stripes were, starting from the inside, grey, red, and brown.

Her brown eyes darted up to his face. "No freaking way."

Apollo looked down at her (even then he was an inch or two taller) and raised an eyebrow. "What's 'no freaking way?'"

"There's no way you're my guard."

He blinked, and then looked her over. Her own sleeves were grey, brown, and brown again. "Well, I have to agree. Because there's no way you're Echo Fated."

Echo blinked. "…We'll have to agree to disagree then." It sounded very logical, and they disagreed for a whole five minutes.

They sat in silence during that silent disagreement, and then Echo broke it. "…I have to say, your conversation is very interesting."

"Why thank you, I pride myself on it."


	2. Love

002 – Love

Alison loved him. She did, she _really_ did.

But at times like this, she just HAD to hate him. Why, why did he make her love him so? Why did she spend all night thinking about him, fighting in that god-awful war, and then shriek at him when he came home because he got wounded? She knew that wherever he was, right now, he was probably bleeding, and the solidity of that fact formed a sizzling line right from her chest to the pit of her stomach. Pressing her hand to her chest, she was surprised when they did not come away bloody.

The door cracked open, and a small, dark head poked itself inside. Her blue eyes, so close a shade to Alison's own, blinked knowingly at her, but she made no sound, nor expression.

"Hey, Persephone," Alison whispered, smiling slightly. And then, "Did I wake you?"

"Yes." The bluntness of her answer was… interesting to say the least. Did she blame Alison for waking her up?

"No, you can't help but want him home instead of out there." A pause from her daughter. "You can't even help thinking so loudly about it that I heard it all the way down in the library."

"…Library?" Alison asked, clinging onto the new conversation thread like a lifeline.

"Yes, there are several interesting books there."

Alison swooned, running across the room to pick up her daughter and swing her around. At age 6, Persephone Haunted was reading!


	3. Light

003 – Light

What gets you up in the morning, out of bed, and into world for yet another dreadfully long day?

The sun, probably. Or the sun gets someone else up that gets you up.

Now what gets me up?

Now THAT is a good question. I guess it has something to do with Serpine, a gun, and the smell of smoke. (Not that I can remember what it smells like anymore, but still.)


	4. Dark

004 – Dark

I won't pretend that everything's well and good. And I won't pretend that I'm not angry at you, even if I refuse to tell you why. After all the answer will make you upset, but pretty much anything can set you off these days, and that always gets me in a bad mood. I'm not sure why.

Maybe it's because you're angry, you're confused, and everything I say makes it worse. Every word out of my mouth is another reminder to you that I am alive and Alison is dead, that I'm related to her, that we both lived in the same house as her… whatever it is.

Maybe it's because every time I see you, it brings up memories of when your bones were covered in skin and sinew. When your eyes danced with laughter at the worst possible moments and you and Ali-Bali ganged up on me to get me to ride a horse.

Or maybe it's because now, I can't find any relation in you to that man at all.


	5. Seeking Solace

005 – Seeking Solace

He was empty. It was an acute feeling, made all the more real by the wind whistling straight through his suit and through his ribs in a painful (and chilly) reminder that he was dead and therefore had no internal organs. Ha-ha, Echo would have said. Punny.

That wasn't it, though. He knew something was missing, but he wasn't sure _what_… Other then Alison and Persephone, of course. And oh, how it angered him that Serpine managed to end the war for a good few months with his life intact, surrender, and save his own skin, but there was no helping that now. He would just have to wait.

Unfortunately, the idea of revenge wasn't as potent a drug now as it as a good 100 years ago, where the merest mention of Serpine, or even a passing woman who happened to have blond or black hair sent him into agony.

Those feelings had faded, eventually, but now he had nothing to cling to, even negative emotions.

Standing, he decided to go see what Echo was up to. Surely she could say something that would cheer him up…?

Right?

He hoped that it wouldn't end in an argument, as it usually did when either of them was in a nostalgic mood.


	6. Break Away

006 – Break Away

Well, crap. It did end in an argument after all. And now he was angry as hell, depressed, and (on top of it all) covered in the sweet drink that Echo had taken a liking to.

Deciding to sleep it off, he retired to his tent and spent the rest of his night unable to relax (he had no real need to sleep, and would not for a few days) because of the uncomfortable reminder drying into his clothes that he would have to avoid Echo for quite a few days.

The next morning, he decided to take a stroll by her tent to see if she was still as pissed off as he thought she would be at the mention that the mansion was probably falling into disrepair… It had been offhand, but he guessed that she was so used to him veiling insults within every comment that it stuck. And the boy cried wolf, but no one believed him this time…

Oh, hey, what was that? Something was missing on this row. He backed up a few paces, but he couldn't find her tent.

After a moment he realized that was because her tent was folded up neatly with a note left on top.

Picking it up, he realized that it was blank.

Blank.

Blank, white paper that threatened to drown him with its sheer significance.

White was the color code for retired veterans. It was traditional (and they were big on tradition here) that if one wanted to retire, they left a white square object somewhere where a superior officer would notice it, report it, and make sure that they were set up somewhere peaceful.

Nowadays, the white was overlooked more often then not, but Echo was one of the superior officers, she could pull this sort of thing with nothing more then mild outrage, especially since the war was technically over now.

Someone was standing beside him, and he glanced over to see China Sorrows, a double agent that had decided whose side she was on merely days before.

Echo had liked her, for reasons he suspected were linked to China's looks.

"…Why?" He whispered the question, hoping that the woman would know. Echo could never leave without any sort of warning, because, after all, she could never leave any thread undone.

China was the one tying up the loose ends for her. "Maybe she wanted to break away?" She suggested, and walked away.

Skulduggery couldn't find the heart to stop her, nor a reason to keep her from going, so he did nothing.

---

Somewhere far away, Echo wiped away her last tears and hoped that the juice that had also spilt onto her own dress would not stain. And, even more, she hoped that the twisted feeling inside her (will he chase me? Do I want him to? What if he does? What if he doesn't?) wouldn't stay either.


	7. Heaven

007 – Heaven

She tasted like strawberries. His first thought was that as the kiss ended, eyes fluttering open to gaze at his soon-to-be wife, who he had just kissed for the first time.

Scandalous, kissing before the wedding. Echo would tease him for days on end. Alison would blush every time the subject was brought up and change the subject horribly, stammering something about fruit and statues and something that sounded remotely noble.

He grinned, and Alison blushed. "You know," he whispered into her ear, "This is _very_ thought-provoking."

Her cheeks went two shades of red deeper and she pulled out of his light embrace, squeaking shrilly, "Apollo!" in a way that made him wonder exactly what he did wrong.


End file.
